esla has started testing its autonomous ride-hail service with its employees in Austin and the Bay Area, as to start the company’s planned robotaxi
launch this summer.
The EV company also posted on X that “FSD Supervised ride-hailing service is live for an early set of employees in Austin & San Francisco Bay Area”. FSD, meaning “Full Self-Driving”, is Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system, which will be available to Tesla owners with a subscription that can perform tasks that are automated. The system also requires the driver to keep their hands on the wheel, but is now, however, not capable of autonomous driving.
It is also worth mentioning that thousands of Tesla owners already drive themselves around with the help of supervised FSD. The announcement that was made by Tesla on Wednesday will also be used by non-Tesla owners to hail a vehicle in the fleet.
Transporting employees before a launch is a standard procedure in the world of autonomous rides. Waymo also has a similar playbook when it comes to entering and testing its products, and the EV company is also opening its services to employees before presenting them to the public.
On the call held on Tuesday, Tesla said that it is now looking to plan the launch of their robotaxi services in June. The automaker did not share many other details regarding its first-quarter earnings.
On Wednesday, Tesla also shared a promotional video that shows a Model 3 sedan that has been fitted with a screen in the back for passengers that displays information such as estimated time of arrival, music controls, as well as a button for an emergency stop.
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It is also worth mentioning that at the bottom of the video mentioned, there is a disclaimer that reads “Safety driver is present to supervise and only intervene as necessary. FSD (Supervised) does not make the vehicle autonomous.”, reported TechCrunch.
Even more so, if you remember that back in January, Musk said that there will no longer be drivers in the cars. As a result, cars would need to rely on the unreleased version of FSD.
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